Don't Miss This!

ZorkFest 2018 Sponsors:

"Zorkfest is, without a doubt, the quintessential event for smart travelers. Whether it's maximizing your loyalty points or your gambling dollar, the presentations offer insight for newbies and pros, alike! I walked out of Zorkfest 2017 with a blueprint for discounted travel and a strategy to get the most freebies from the casinos. Thanks to the knowledgeable speakers at Zorkfest, I learned that paying full price to travel, stay or gamble is for suckers!" -Tony S. from Vice Lounge Online

ZorkFest Topics:

Maximize Miles & Points

Fly more conveniently and for Free. There are great mileage redemptions out there, but you need to know where to look. We’ll show you how to efficiently find the elusive award inventory and book those FREE flights.

Optimize Your Casino Rating

Earn more comps for less play, including Free Rooms! Do you play consistently, but your casino offers do not seem to get better and sometimes get worse? Learn how to optimize your play (casino action) to ensure you will get what you deserve. Saturday night rooms? Better hotel properties? More free play? We teach it all.

Airfare, Hotel, Rental Car Shopping

There are so many ways to shop for travel. We’ll focus on some of the best methods and tools to help you find the lowest airfare, hotel and car rental prices.

"I learned several tips that will help me in maximizing my Vegas experience. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Eric Rosenthal for KING!!!! Loved your presentation on the "cannot leave this room" secrets. I learned a LOT and can't wait for the next ZorkFest. I am AMAZED at the quality and pricing of ZorkFest. It was worth ten times the cost of admission." -Julianne from Texas

Podcasters After Dark 10:00pm

Powered by TravelZork

Sunday, May 27, 2018

"ZorkFest is the best time and money I ever spent. If you are on the fence about going, just do it. You won't regret it. Wish I had known some of this stuff years ago. You get information from the best travel and casino experts in the world, all in one place! Whether it is casino loyalty programs (and how to spend the least for elite status), credit cards, hotel, airfare or rental car tactics, you will learn how to do it right, and at the best advantage to you, at Zorkfest. My only quibble is that the casino and travel sessions were going on at the same time and I couldn't split myself in two to attend both of them." - LinFromNJ

The fun does not end, when ZorkFest is over. Continue your Vegas weekend with 360 Vegas Vacation 6! #360VV6

Starting with a meet and greet at 3pm at Luxor, and continuing with a trip down to Fremont Street.

ZorkFest Speakers

Anthony Curtis

Las Vegas Advisor

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Anthony Curtis – Las Vegas Advisor

Recognize this man? Sure, you do.You’ve seen him dozens of times on the Travel Channel, A&E, Discovery, E! Entertainment, BBC, and on and on. And you frequently read his comments in the national press. He’s Anthony Curtis and he’s the most recognized and quoted Las Vegas expert in the world.

Anthony moved to Las Vegas in 1978, shortly after he turned 21. As a young scuffler without much of a bankroll, he had to rely on his gambling skills, his street smarts, and casino promotions, loss leaders, and inadvertent largesse. In the process of taking advantage of every coupon, steak special, and drink discount in town, he became an authority in navigating Vegas on the cheap. It didn’t take him long to realize that plenty of Las Vegas visitors and locals could profit from his expertise and advice. Thus, in 1983, the Las Vegas Advisornewsletter was born. Today, 34 years, nearly 400 issues monthly of LVA, more than 100 books, and thousands of web pages later … if you’re looking for the best information about Las Vegas and gambling, you’ve come to the right place. At LasVegasAdvisor.com, our philosophy is all about getting the most out of Vegas. Our monthly newsletter, the real-money savings from the incredible book of coupons that comes with it, our gambling books and products, and the voluminous up-to-date information on this website all guarantee it.

Gilbert Ott

GodSaveThePoints.com

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Gilbert Ott – GodSaveThePoints.com

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler. As the creator of GodSaveThePoints.com and a writer for Condé Nast Traveler, his adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 150,000 miles in a year. Obsessed with deals, destinations and luxury travel – Ott is constantly in search of an edge, and shares every travel trick he finds on GodSaveThePoints.com. In addition to his daily writing work, Ott is a familiar face on BBC, Good Morning America, CBS, ABC and leading news outlets around the world. His journey into travel obsession began as a junior tennis player, where he became addicted to miles since earning his first at age 12 on a trip to New Zealand. There’s no sign of that changing anytime soon.

Angelina Aucello

Angelina Travels

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Angelina Aucello – Angelina Travels

Angelina Aucello is a EWR-based travel aficionado and expert. Her blog Angelina Travels, shares her excitement about travel, points, miles, and deals. Angelina has earned and redeemed millions of miles and points for smart luxury travel around the world. Angelina is a mom of 2 travel-loving toddlers, and is the family travel columnist at ThePointsGuy.com

Jean and Brad Scott

Jean Scott's Frugal Vegas

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Jean and Brad Scott – Jean Scott’s Frugal Vegas

Jean Scott had been taught thriftiness since she was born. Brad Scott had been gambling since he was five years old. Now meeting as middle-agers and going to Las Vegas on their first vacation together, the “frugal gambler team” was born. And for the last 34 years, they have scrambled to use every coupon, find every casino promotion, take every airplane bump, and play every video poker machine that would contribute to their amazing financial success.

Her latest book, The Frugal Gambler Casino Guide, not only continues to be a good video poker resource but branches out to show how players can lose less money so their bankroll will last longer no matter what casino game is chosen.

Richard Kerr

Award Travel 101

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Richard Kerr – Award Travel 101

Richard Kerr, the founder of Award Travel 101™, is a 9-year veteran naval officer, and Senior Points and Miles Contributor for The Points Guy. He’s one of the world’s foremost experts in the field, featured in Forbes, Money Magazine, Kiplinger Personal Finance and presented at #SXSW 2017.Join our group!

Shawn Coomer

Miles to Memories

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Shawn Coomer – Miles to Memories

Shawn Coomer’s travel experience began in 2007 when he set out with his wife and then 7 year old son on a year and a half long journey around the world. Since then he has continually studied bank & travel loyalty programs and credit card offerings to help him travel more for less money. He earns and redeems over a million miles/points per year across multiple airline, hotel, bank and other loyalty programs and holds elite status with more than a dozen of them. In 2013 Shawn launched Miles to Memories to help bridge the gap between the points/miles you earn and the memories you create with them.

Craig Shacklett

URComped

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Craig Shacklett – URComped

Craig worked as Executive Casino Host onboard a cruise ship and would take care of VIP players that were cruising for free. The crazy thing was that on every cruise there would be players that were gambling more than the “VIPs” but were paying full price for their trips. They didn’t receive comps because they weren’t “known players” to the casino. We started URComped to help players get the comps they deserve at casinos everywhere, not just ones that they have played at before.

Adam Bauer

Travel Fanboy

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Adam Bauer – Travel Fanboy

Adam, the artist formerly known as Vegas Fanboy, is excited to join the Zorkfest team in Vegas for 2018. His passion for travel writing and connecting with other budget-conscious globetrotters lead Adam to create his new venture, TravelFanboy.com . Professionally, Adam coordinates personal finance education at a Midwest university. His goal is to always try to have a top-shelf trip at a happy hour price. He’s looking forward to helping others do the same.

Eric Rosenthal

Travel/Gaming Expert

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Eric Rosenthal – Travel/Gaming Expert

Brooklyn born and NJ raised, Eric frequents Atlantic City and uses casinos as his summer beach home. He travels to Las Vegas and other warm-weather destinations and pays pennies on the dollar for flights and hotels. He is a contributor to several gambling and travel related websites and podcasts and discusses all things Atlantic City and his passion for “Comp Harvesting.” By combining his knowledge of miles, points and casino loyalty programs, he teaches people how to travel for free and maximize value for your gambling dollar.

Michele Robson

Turning Left for Less

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Michele Robson – Turning Left for Less

Michele spent 24 years working in the travel industry with a large proportion of that spent working in Air Traffic Control. Her true passion has always been travelling in luxury for the lowest possible price. Following a successful kidney transplant in 2016, she decided to turn her hobby into a full-time job and launched her blog Turning Left for Less – Champagne travel on a Prosecco budget. She is based in the UK but she spends most of her time flying round the world! Michele travels around 100,000 miles a year and racks up about 70 hotel nights a year, mainly 5* of course!
Her specialist area is all things British Airways, Avios and oneworld, plus of course how to stay in the finest hotels for less.

Heather Ferris

Vegas Aces

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Heather Ferris – Vegas Aces

Heather Ferris is a 2nd generation born and raised Las Vegan. She is the proprietor of the world’s 1st free dealing trade school, www.Vegas-Aces.com and she helps people all around the world in learning how to play and deal casino table games. In addition to that, Heather is an adjunct professor at UNLV where she teaches casino games and is currently writing her first book for the Huntington Press.

Marc Meltzer

Edge Vegas

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Marc Meltzer – Edge Vegas

Marc was born and raised in New York City and currently resides in Las Vegas. His roots in gambling run deep learning how to play poker in grade school. He learned more about gambling at a young age working down the street from a bookie who took action on anything from the mainstream sports to the last three digits of the purse for certain horse races. Today Marc is a freelance writer and social media consultant in Las Vegas. Writing about food, booze, gambling and Las Vegas is a tough job but somebody has to do it.

Catherine Smalfus

CoachKitty

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Catherine Smalfus – CoachKitty

Catherine gravitates towards any activity that has to do with planning and lists. This has served her well while playing optimally in casinos for over ten years and traveling on a budget. She has also been working frequent flyer deals since taking her first solo flight on Piedmont Airlines and signing up for their credit card while onboard. Catherine believes that with a little extra effort you can get a discount and a little extra value for every purchase you make. Few people have such extensive combined knowledge of travel loyalty, casino loyalty programs and video poker. Check out Catherine’s work

Bethany Walsh

Miles To Memories

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Bethany Walsh – Miles to Memories

Bethany is a Senior Editor at MilestoMemories.com, where she helps readers earn and leverage miles and points into luxury travel. Her favorite destinations include Toronto, Las Vegas and any place with a casino. Bethany is a credit card and loyalty program expert who uses her knowledge to travel the world in first class for free.

Brian Cohen

The Gate

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Brian Cohen – The Gate

Brian Cohen has traveled to greater than 50 countries on six continents and has been to all 50 states of the United States as well as Puerto Rico; and at the top of his travel list is to stay overnight on the continent of Antarctica — preferably, at the South Pole. Although he caught the fever of the obsession of miles, points and elite level status and became a member of numerous frequent traveler loyalty programs, travel has always been important to Brian — a passion which is as strong as ever. As one of the founding writers of The Gate in August of 2006, Brian has been writing about miles, points and travel for greater than eleven years. Along the way, he has also written articles for TravelZork, InsideFlyer, FlyerTalk and First2Board; as well as has been featured on numerous media outlets — such as NBC, CNN Money, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, to name a few examples. Brian has been a moderator on FlyerTalk since he was appointed in 2004; is a member of both InsideFlyer and FlyerTalk; and enjoys sharing his passion for photography and travel — even when it includes some wacky itineraries…

Edward Pizzarello

Pizza in Motion

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Edward Pizzarello – Pizza in Motion

Edward Pizzarello travels over 100,000 miles a year for business and pleasure. When he’s not playing road warrior for business travel, you can find him spending time with his wife and two kids. They’re equally comfortable at Disney World, Italy or a thousand places in between.

Jessica Coane

Founder and President, PEX+

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Jessica Coane – Founder and President, PEX+

Jessica Coane founded PEX+, a search engine that helps people and businesses maximize their frequent flyer miles, hotel points, and credit card points. PEX+ has been written up in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Times, and others. PEX+ has also been recognized by travel industry experts as a major component in the future of award search and loyalty big data.

Prior to entering the start-up scene, Jessica provided software development and IT consulting expertise for corporations in various industry verticals, including Hewlett Packard in Technology, Boeing in Aerospace, and Petrofac in Oil and Gas. Additionally, she’s built other startups in the past that have been featured in major news outlets like CBS (KHOU Houston) and The New York Times.

Cousin Vito

Casino Podcaster

Close

ZorkFest 2018 Speaker

Cousin Vito – Casino and Gambling Podcaster

Cousin Vito is a casino enthusiast, recreational gambler, and a fun loving foodie. As with many from the east coast, his love for casinos started with childhood trips to Atlantic City with his late grandfather. From enjoying the football games, tossing dice at a craps table or participating in poker tournaments Cousin Vito represents the quintessential recreational gambler. After years of enjoyment Cousin Vito harnessed his enthusiasm for gaming and created Cousin Vito’s Casino podcast. His weekly podcast covers anything and everything the has to do with casinos and gambling. His show can be found at CousinVito’sCasinoPodcast.

"If there were a ZorkFest when I first started to learn about travel award programs and then video poker and comps, it would have saved me years of study and research. I’d have applied the knowledge I have now sooner, and I’d be a wealthier person today!"

ZorkFest Session Information

An unprecedented assortment of sessions on all aspects of Travel and Casino loyalty.

Leverage the use of hotel points for big weekends like Super Bowl and New Year’s Eve in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Learn when you should and should not use hotel points. Hotel Status can bring you lots of extra perks; we’ll show you how to achieve hotel status without having to spend countless nights qualifying.

How do they work? How do I earn points and status? Can I achieve the status level I desire with less play than required? We’ll cover all the hot casino loyalty topics and touch on all the major programs including: Mlife, Caesars Total Rewards, Golden Nugget, Resorts, Tropicana, some of which have partnerships with travel programs.

It’s not easy using frequent flyer miles/hotel points or understanding the programs. We’ll try to crack the code and teach you about earning points and spending points wisely. We shall touch on programs that include United, American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, Spirit, Marriott Rewards, Hilton HHonors, Starwood Preferred Guest and much more.

Can you really travel for free by signing up for the right credit cards at the right time? Yes! Absolutely. We’ll show you how to travel for pennies on the dollar and how to use credit cards that help you earn points, get free trips and maximize your vacations

Like travel reward programs, casino loyalty comp programs can be quite mysterious. We will help you understand casino comp earnings and ratings for table games and slots/video poker so you can play less and earn more casino comps and free rooms.

It’s one of the best games in the casino, but to truly benefit you have to understand the rules and how to choose the right machines. Only play slots now? Understanding how to play and why video poker might be a good idea in addition to your slot play, or all by itself.

Do you worry about carrying money to play at the casino? ATM fees are outrageous in casinos. Casino credit is free and easy to apply for and use. We will tell you why it might make sense for you.

There are so many opportunities to earn points every day. Don’t miss those opportunities. You will find out how to earn more points via shopping and everyday purchases that you can use for future travel. Hey, you are going to spend anyway, you might as well be earning points.

"I travel a lot for work and pleasure. I have never really taken advantage of all the perks I could get from airline and hotel rewards programs. ZorkFest is the easy way to learn to make the best use of all of the travel I am already doing.”

The Venue

Treasure Island Hotel & Casino

3300 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Rooms are limited, do not delay

Heart of The Vegas Strip

Located on the legendary Las Vegas Strip with direct access to the Mirage and Fashion Show Shopping Mall, Treasure Island Hotel And Casino is a first-class destination where anything is possible. TI satisfies the most discriminating planners and attendees with its friendly hospitality and unmatched attention to detail. Accommodations at TI feature breathtaking views, business essentials, and the Elite Sensational™ pillowtop bed, with our spacious suites providing upgraded amenities and additional service. Unwind in the high-energy pool flanked by stylish cabanas. Dining is manifold, with options such as Phil’s Italian Steak House and The Buffet at TI. Enter a stimulating world known for the spellbinding Mystère™ by Cirque du Soleil®. Any time, day or night, our guest services are here to ensure that all of your requests are promptly addressed and your expectations are vastly exceeded.

DELUXE ROOM | 1 KING | NON-SMOKING

A ZorkFestRate is available for the entire weekend, starting Thursday, May 24, 2018 (You can book just one night or multiple nights.)

ZorkFest Terms and Conditions

All ticket purchases for ZorkFest are non-refundable.

The credit card charge will appear as TravelZork. ZorkFest tickets can be transferred up to 7 days before the event for a non-refundable fee of $35. The last day to transfer tickets is Friday, May 18th 2018.

You may only use one coupon code per order.

All event details, venue details, session content and speakers subject to change. The full schedule will be listed online approximately one month before the event.

ZorkFest participants are encouraged to share photos, brief videos and comments on their social media channels during and following the event. If you are sharing your experiences on social media, we suggest the hashtags of #ZorkFest #ZorkFest2018 , #Vegas #LasVegas and #Casinos. Enjoy, learn and share!

Reference to ZorkFest also includes the parent company TravelZork. All intellectual property rights at ZorkFest (known as, the ZorkFest content) and all materials distributed at or in connection with the ZorkFest are owned and/or licensed by ZorkFest, ZorkFest sponsors and/or Speakers presenting at ZorkFest and/or copywritten materials. You may not use or reproduce or allow anyone to use or reproduce any audio, visual, or written content, any presentation, and/or any trademarks or other trade names appearing at ZorkFest. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to vest in you any legal or beneficial right in or to any intellectual property rights owned or used under license by ZorkFest, nor does this Agreement grant you any right or license to any other intellectual property rights of ZorkFest, Sponsors and/or Speakers, all of which shall at all times remain the exclusive property of their respective owners.

In addition to the requirements and prohibitions set forth herein, ZorkFest may also exclude any prospective attendee from registering for or attending any ZorkFest. We reserve the right to cancel any attendee’s registration at ZorkFest’s sole discretion.

Furthermore, ZorkFest reserves the right to cancel, at its sole discretion, any attendee’s registration upon refund of the admission fees paid to TravelZork; provided, however, that if an attendee is cancelled for violating any prohibition or requirement set forth herein, ZorkFest | TravelZork may retain all fees paid. Attendees observed violating these prohibitions during ZorkFest will receive a verbal warning for the first instance and will be removed from ZorkFest upon the second violation.

Furthermore, ZorkFest|TravelZork and the Speakers retain the right to pursue other remedies for violations herein in accordance with any Federal, State or local laws related to the misappropriation of intellectual property.